June 189 3.J EXTEACTS FROM DIPLOMATIC A])?!) u CPNSULAB 71 



REPORTS. 



Agricultitre in Yeneiia. 



-Me; Edward de 2uccato, Her Majesty's Viee-Consul at Venice, 

 in his last annual report to the Foreign OlSSee, states that the 

 protective duties have, so far, not improved the general con- 

 dition of agriculture in the Yenetian provinces. 

 . The small farmers are reported to be oppressed with taxation 

 which they are unable to meet,-and the land is daily falling 

 into the hands of rich capitalists to iiie detriment of the general 

 welfare. 



The condition of the peasants, more especially of the day 

 labourers, continues, therefore, to be miserable in some of the 

 Yenetian provinces, and a not inconsiderable number of families 

 with their young children are, it appears, yearly driven from 

 home from lack of food, and emigrate to America. 

 - A few rural banks, to lend money to villagers for agricultural 

 purposes, were opened in Yenetia in 1^83 on the system suc- 

 cessfully started in Germany, in 1849, by Herr RaifFeisen. These 

 banks are becoming more and more popular, their chief advocates 

 and supporters being the Yenetian clergy. - 



[Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No. 1496. Price 2d.y- 



^ French Export of. Eggs and Poultry. 



In his report to the Foreign Office, for the year 1894, Mr, 

 Frank Lethbridge, Her Majesty's] Yice-Consul at Caen, states that 

 there was a decrease in the quantity of eggs shipped from his 

 district to the United Kingdom in consequence of the English 

 markets being so largely supplied by imports from Italy and 

 many other parts of Europe. The prices in English markets 

 were so low that shippers found a larger return from the Paris 

 market, the French protective duties making importations of 

 this article from other European countries unprofitable. 



For the same reasons there is said to have been a decrease in 

 the exportation of poultry. The high price of meat in France 

 made the natives willing to pay higher prices than those obtain- 

 able in London, even for geese to which the French taste is not 

 partial. 



The continued increase in the price of meat, especially mutton, 

 is, it appears, causing a great deal of complaint from people of 

 small means. 



[Foreign Offce Report, Annual Series, No. 1506. Price '^\cl.'] 



